New Wine, New Wine Skins
A Joke?
A man is rescued after 20 years on a desert island. His rescuer is astonished to find that the lone castaway has built several buildings. “Wow” the rescuer says. “What’s that beautiful stone building overlooking the bay?”, “That’s my home,” the castaway says. “And what about that building over there?”, “That,” the castaway says, “is my church.” “But wait,” the rescuer says. “That building over there with the bell tower, what is that?" "That is the church I used to belong to.”
You may be in the midst of another institutional church change or someone wounded by burnout from serving. Maybe you’ve been the one who’s spent countless hours as a “layperson”, serving the Lord, only to see your family strained, or worse, falling apart due to your absence. Maybe you’ve seen that happen to your pastor or his family. According to a recent study by The Barna Research Group, in the USA today, “of some 400,000 churches surveyed, 85% are not growing. 14% are growing by transfer growth, and only 1% is growing by conversion growth.”Churches are moving lukewarm believers around by attempting to meet their newly found felt needs. We are not making true disciples because individuals are not staying in one church long enough to produce lasting change. Have you ever thought, is this all there is? Is this all the church has to offer? How did we get here and can we really experience what we read about in the Bible? I would like to offer hope for you from Jesus’ own words in Matthew 9:17,“poor new wine into new wineskins...” - Read More...
A man is rescued after 20 years on a desert island. His rescuer is astonished to find that the lone castaway has built several buildings. “Wow” the rescuer says. “What’s that beautiful stone building overlooking the bay?”, “That’s my home,” the castaway says. “And what about that building over there?”, “That,” the castaway says, “is my church.” “But wait,” the rescuer says. “That building over there with the bell tower, what is that?" "That is the church I used to belong to.”
You may be in the midst of another institutional church change or someone wounded by burnout from serving. Maybe you’ve been the one who’s spent countless hours as a “layperson”, serving the Lord, only to see your family strained, or worse, falling apart due to your absence. Maybe you’ve seen that happen to your pastor or his family. According to a recent study by The Barna Research Group, in the USA today, “of some 400,000 churches surveyed, 85% are not growing. 14% are growing by transfer growth, and only 1% is growing by conversion growth.”Churches are moving lukewarm believers around by attempting to meet their newly found felt needs. We are not making true disciples because individuals are not staying in one church long enough to produce lasting change. Have you ever thought, is this all there is? Is this all the church has to offer? How did we get here and can we really experience what we read about in the Bible? I would like to offer hope for you from Jesus’ own words in Matthew 9:17,“poor new wine into new wineskins...” - Read More...